Safety razor



April 1931- N. H. FAIRWEATHER ET AL ,7 65

SAFETY RAZOR Filed Dec. 22. 1927 Patented Apr. 7, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE NELSON H. FAIRWEATHER, OF WEST MEIDFOBD, AND JOHN D. VEBNEB, OF MALDEN,

MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO GILLETTE SAFETY RAZOR COMPANY, 01! BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE SAFETY RAZOR Application filed December 22, 1927. Serial No. 241,927.

This invention relates to safety razors and its principal purpose is to produce a safety razor of such low cost design that it may be discarded after it has been used once or as soon as its blade loses its original keenness. A razor of this type may be used with good advantage in hospitals, being sterilized before use and destroyed or discarded after it has served its purpose, It may be also dispensed at a very low cost and used in an emergency by travellers, campers and anyone out of touch with his regular shaving equipment.

In one of its aspects the invention consists in a safety razor having a single blade permanently included in its organization: and not intended or designed for replacement or renewal. To this end an important feature of the invention consists in a one-piece sheet metal holder constructed and arranged to enclose the blade leaving only its cutting edge exposed and being permanently folded about the blade and engaged therewith so that opening the holder or removing the blade cannot be effected without destroying the unity of the organization.

The invention also includes within its scope a novel form of sheet metal blank herein shown as serving with good advantage in the production of a holder of the character contemplated by the present invention.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred GII1 bodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of the sheet metal blank entering into the construction of the holder, together with a blade suitable for use in the holder.

Fig. 2 is a view in perspective of the safety razor in inverted position, and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

The material from which the holder herein shown is made is best shown in Fig. 1. It comprises an integral sheet metal blank such as may be produced at a single operation by suitable dies. In length the blank is slightly and 12, the portion 10 being somewhat narrower than the portion 12. The portion 10, which, when folded about the blade lies beneath the latter, is formed with a pair of external ears 18 and a pair of internal tongues 20 cut from its body portion. The portion 12 which lies above the blade in the finished razor shown in Fig. 2 has in its body portion a pair of parallel spaced slits 24, located substantially opposite to the roots of the tongues 20, and a large intermediate perforated tongue 22 which in the completed razor is bent outwardly from the body of the blank and serves as a handle. I

The portion 12 has an outer edge which is provided with a series of transversely extending corrugations 14, these being curved upwardly at their outer ends and separated from the body of the blank by a transversely extending slot or slots 16. The separation of the portion of the blank in which the corrugations 14 are formed by the slot 16 facilitates the drawings of the sheet metal at the edge of the blank into the desired configuration without distorting the body of the blank which it is desired to leave flat for engagement with the surface of the blade.

We prefer to employ a Gillette safety razor blade in the construction of the razor herein shown, although the invention is in no sense restricted to that or to any particular type of blade. As shown in Fig. 1, however, the blade is provided with three centrally located apertures 32 and in assembling the razor the two outer apertures are utilized in retaining the blade in its holder.

In assembling the razor herein shown the blank is folded about the blade on the division located by the marginal notches above mentioned. The proportions of the parts 10 and 12 of the blank are such that the edge of the part 12 overlaps the edge of the part 10 by substantially the length of the corrugations 14 as will be apparent from an inspection of Fig. 3. Prior to folding the blank the tongues 20 are bent into upright position so that they extend at right angles to the portion 10 and the blade 30 is located so that the tongues pass upwardly through the openings 32. In folding the portion 12 of the blade over upon the upper surface of the blade 30 the tongues 20 pass through the slits 24 and are thereupon bent outwardly and firmly clinched upon the outer surface of the portion 12 of the holder, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The blade is in this way secured and positively locked in place and held definitely in proper relation to the guard formed by the corrugated edge of the portion 12 of the holder.

The exterior tongues 18 of the portion 10 are then bent upwardly and clenched upon the surface of the portion 12 so that all four tongues act to hold the folded parts of the holder positively in their assembled position.

The razor is now complete in condition for shipping and supplying the trade. As will be apparent, it is extremely compact in its construction and occupies very little space, having substantially the area of a single razor blade and the thickness of four plies of thin sheet metal. It comprises'therefore an article which can be dispensed with good advantage by vending machines, or which can be shipped or kept in stock with the greatest advantage and economy of space.

When it is desired to use the razor it is necessary merely to bend outwardly the tongue 22, which has heretofore lain in the body of the portion 12 of the holder, into some such position as shown in Fig. 3, and in such position the tongue serves conveniently as a handle for manipulating the razor.

While we have shown integral tongues for holding the blade in place and maintaining the holder parts together, any fastening device passing through the blade and beaded or clenched upon the outer surfaces of the holder would serve as well and lie within the scope of our invention.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A safety razor comprising a blade with a perforated body, and a one-piece'holder folded about one edge and both surfaces of the blade and havingan integral handleforming tongue struck out of its body and tongues struck from another portion thereof which pass through'the perforations of the blade and the other portion of the holder and are clenched upon said other portion of the holder to prevent removal of the blade.

2. A safety'razor 'comprising a blade and a one-piece sheet metal holder folded upon itself to enclose the blade except at its cutting edge and having a handle-forming tonguestruck-out of its body and integral tongues projectin from another portion thereof upon another portion thereof to prevent removal of the blade.

3. A safety razor comprising a blade, and a sheet metal holderhaving a flat portion engaging one surface of the blade and having spaced openings and an integral handleforming tongue struck out of its body, and a similar fiat portion engaging the other surface of the blade and having exterior tongues clenched'upon the portion first mentioned and internal tongues passing through the blade and spaced openings and similarly clenched.

4. A sheet metal blank for a safety razor holder comprising two integrally connected portions distinguished by marginal notches, one of said portions having exterior tongues at its corners and interior tongues formed in its body, and the other portion having a series of transverse corrugations formed at one edge and spaced slits corresponding in location to the interior tongues of the portion first mentioned.

5. A safety razor comprising a blade, and a sheet metal holder folded about one edge of the blade andcomprising parallel bladeenclosing portions, one extending beyond the other and being longitudinally slotted substantially opposite to the shaving edge of the blade so as to separate from the body of the holder a spaced longitudinally extending bar portion, transverse corrugations in said bar portion limited at their inner ends by said slot and integral tongues extending from one portion of the holder through the blade and through the other portion of the holder.

Signed at Boston, Massachusetts, this twentieth day of December, 1927.

NELSON H. FAIRWEATHER. JOHN D. VERNER.

through body of the blade and clenched 

